How to have a successful IEP meeting..

Sometimes, you might feel as if you and the school are working at cross-purposes.  One thing to keep in mind is, in general, both sides are focused on what is in your child's best interest.  Sometimes, you may even be saying the same thing, but with all the educational jargon that can get tossed around a meeting table, you may not feel like that is what's happening.

Some rules to follow to ensure you have a successful IEP meeting include the following:

1. Know what you want for your child.  This can encompass both the types of setting you feel he or she will be most successful in, and it means the goals you have for him/her.  Do you want her to be able to tell her times tables through the 9s? Do you want her to be able to understand a grade level chapter book?  Do you want him to be able to write a sentence using nouns and verbs? Do you know that he will do better on tests if he is allowed to take them in a separate room?  If you know what you want to see for your child at the end of the school year, you can help guide the process.
2. Try not to blame, or criticize.  This can be hard, because this is your child, and nothing brings out the Momma Bear like a momma who feels like her child is being short changed.  If you feel something is not right, take a deep breath, and ASK for clarification instead.  A simple "Could you explain that to me a little better" may open the door to better communication and a greater understanding on everyone's part.  You may certainly exercise your right to disagree with what is being discussed, but if you can keep away from blaming others or criticizing the school or personnel, you will to a long way to fostering a positive interaction.
3. Seek solutions in which everyone can win.  Keeping in mind the limitations that may be on certain schools or districts, if you can work with the team to help develop solutions that meet with the best of what everyone wants, the team will move forward and progress can begin for your child.  Offer what you know works best - does your child respond to positive interventions? Would a time-out be better for changing behavior? Would it be better for your child to take a test a few questions at a time rather than get overwhelmed? Ideas like these can create win-win scenarios at IEP meetings.

And remember, you don't necessarily get what you deserve - you get what you negotiate.

Educationally yours...


The SpEd Guru

What do the numbers mean? What is ability and acheivement? I'm drowing in numbers.. HELP!

Making sense of all the numerical and statistical data when a child is being tested for a learning disability seems as if it needs its own advanced degree just to navigate!

The first thing that should happen on the road to diagnosing a learning disability is for the school to request your permission to test your child. Generally there will be two different tests given, each measuring a specific thing.

The first test will be an ability test, a cognitive assessment of what your child should be able to do. Alfred Binet created the first test that he believed would reliably assess the intelligence of a person back in 1904.  Over 100 years later, the tests have gone through numerous updates, and the tests go through tests themselves to ensure they measure what they are intended to measure. There are several out there, but the most common seems to be the WISC, the Stanford-Binet (still being used today!!!) and the DAS, or Differential Ability Scale.  Most of these tests are verbal tests, meaning the student needs to be able to understand language and directions.  For children for whom this is not possible (think ELL students or students so young as to not have the adaptive language for such tasks) there are also tests which are non-verbal in nature but that accurately measure the same things as, say, the WISC.

So, what are they measuring?  Generally tests break up tasks into two areas: verbal and performance.  Students are asked questions like "why would a firefighter wear a uniform" or asked to complete a maze or replicate a design with blocks. Processing speed and memory are also measured.  From these tests, a Full Scale Performance IQ is determined.  It is rare to see this number change much over the years, although a variation a few points is to be expected when the tests are given 3 years apart.

So, what numbers do we want to see, and what REALLY are we measuring?  Well, if you are so inclined to think of it this way, the IQ is your God-given ability - it is what you were born with. It is not the result of schooling (think Einstein and Edison) but rather your innate talents and gifts.  The scale ranges from 10 to 250+, but generally you see 100 as an average, and that is the number used by educators as we look to the MEAN of the scale. We consider the "average range" to be from 85 - 115, or 1 standard deviation away from the norm, with a standard deviation being equal to 15 points on the scale.  From here, we know what we should be able to expect from your child in school.  Ideally, a child with 100 as an IQ would also ACHIEVE around a 100.

The achievement tests measure what the child has absorbed, retained and garnered from his school life.  Specific academic skills are measures such as spelling, writing, math reasoning (where you have to manipulate numbers in your head.. word problems), math calculations, reading decoding, reading comprehension and listening/speaking skills.  These tests work off the same 100-being-the-mean score, so the numbers do match apples for apples.

When the scores from achievement are significantly lower than the scores for ability, we presume that is due to a learning disability.  Other causes are possible such as academic deprivation which is generally not as abusive as it sounds - a child who was ill, for example, and missed 10 weeks of school would be considered to have lower achievement scores simply because she was not in school for all those days. 

Depending on the areas, a diagnosis of SLD would be given wherever there is a score greater than a standard deviation below the IQ, although it becomes more of a sliding scale depending on the IQ.. the higher the IQ, the greater the discrepancy needs to be and conversely, the lower the IQ, the smaller the discrepancy needs to be. 

It is common to see a child with scores that are close to their IQ in all areas but one, and it is just as common to see a disability in many, or all, areas.  These are highly unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all explanation.  If you have a question about your child's test scores, call his special education teacher or request a sit down or phone conference with the school psychologist or other professional who can interpret those results for you.  You have the right to have all of your questions answered, and I hope I have clarified some things here today.

Educationally yours,

The SpEd Guru

What's the difference between a 504 plan and an IEP?

Both of these documents protect children with disabilities in their school environments, but are different in the needs they address.  And while it is possible for a child to have BOTH a 504 plan AND and IEP, it is generally rare.

Let's begin with the least restrictive of the two - the 504 plan. Like the IEP, a 504 is a federally mandated and binding agreement between the school and the family that certain conditions exist for a student and that certain accommodations will be made for that student so that he or she can be successful and healthy in school.

Generally, you see a 504 plan for a child with a medical issue which prevents that child either from participating fully in the curriculum or whose health may be affected without specific considerations.  These issues range from a child with asthma or diabetes, to a child with food allergies, or even a child with ADD.  In most cases, there are certain considerations that the school needs to make, but for the most part that child can be fully surrounded by her peers and be in class.  Considerations may include a nut-free table in the lunch room, or even specific rooms or even whole campuses being nut free.  It could be allowing an asthmatic child to keep his inhaler with him, though the school has a strict policy that all medicines be with the nurse.  It could be allowing a child with diabetes to eat whenever he needs to.. all things that should be written down for the protection of the child, but that generally can be managed without removing the child from the regular school environment.

An IEP, then, is one step further away from that unrestrictive environment.  A child whose learning is becoming affected because of his or her medical condition may then qualify as a child with an Other Health Impairment and is awarded the protection and more significant accommodations to help him be successful.

Generally, under Other Health Impairment, we don't see children with diabetes or asthma; we see more students who have other emotional or behavioral concerns which impede their ability to function fully in the regular class environment.

This is not to say that co-morbidity does not exist, and you won't see a child with both a learning disability for which he has an IEP and something like asthma, for which he has a 504 plan.  However, when the 504 was originally written for either a behavior or emotional reason, such as ADD or a mood disorder, then once the child needs an IEP, the 504 is no longer recognized as the guiding document, and since the rules governing IEPs are even more strict that those of a 504.  Once an IEP is written, the team generally considers that 504 plan to be null and void.

Educationally yours,

The SpEd Guru

My child has an IEP.. how can they get an F?

This is one of the most common questions I get as a teacher. Students with IEPs are entitled to many benefits to help them be successful in the classroom setting, however, the students still need to be part of the process. Here is what I mean by that.. So long as the accommodations are being met in the classroom, a student with an IEP still has the right to fail. An IEP simply levels the playing field; your student still needs to be willing to play the game! In fact, in my professional opinion, a few of the accommodations we allow in our IEPs actually are detrimental to the later success of our students with IEPs. "Extended time on assignments" is one of such a beast. This accommodation recognizes the fact that many students with learning differences need additional time to complete a task. We allow for assignments to be turned in late for full credit. This works reasonably well when a student is in early elementary school but by the time he or she gets to middle school, the following scenario happens like clockwork: a student knows he has extra time to complete an assignment, and so rather than doing what he can when he can, procrastination takes over. Soon, that student is facing not only the end of a grading quarter, but an amount of work to complete that has snowballed beyond all reason! Rather than allowing this to happen, a more reasonable and appropriate accommodation for extended time should read more like this: "Johnny will receive assignment X number of days before his peers to allow for extra time to complete the assignment." All assignment due dates are solid and there is not wiggle room on the back end with just changing the assignment time frame. If accommodations are not being used appropriately in the classroom, and you feel your child's failing grade is due to this, please have an open dialogue with the teacher and with your child's special education case manager. Perhaps your child truly needs more modifications to the curriculum, but if all parties are in agreement that modifications and accommodations are reasonable and being enforced, at that point, your child's failure or success is up to him. Remember, while no one wants to fail a child with a learning difficulty, the child still needs to hold up his or her end of the gig.

Some practical tips for kids with ADD in the classroom

Many children with ADD or ADHD (the two terms are often used interchangably. Sometimes you hear of ADD-inattentive type or ADD-hyperactive type. I will go into the differences between the two in a bit) can be successful in a regular education setting with a few modifications to their environment. But first, what is ADD?

Attention Deficit Disorder has seen fair share of press, often with the media getting it wrong! A child with ADD may be perfectly able to ATTEND to his or her environment, only they addend to everything in their environment; they can be what is called "stimulus bound". If something moves in their line of sight, they MUST see what it is.. If something changes in their environment, they MUST check it out.  For many of these kids,  it is really not an option; it can be simply how their brains are wired.  The really great news about kids with ADD? They can make the best multi-taskers out there!

The difference between the two 'forms' of ADD are this; you have known of, or seen, the child who is hyperactive. The media, and movies, have had a decent representative of these sorts of behaviors. A child who has ADD-inattentive, however, can often go undiagnosed simply because they are NOT a behavior problem in the classroom. These are your daydreamers, your children who may appear to be paying attention, but are often not even hearing the discussion. If you believe your child may meet this description, a conversation with your doctor may be in order, because your teacher will not be the one brining the issue to your attention; the teacher may not even notice because there nothing TO notice..

However, in a traditional American classroom, a child with ADD poses a problem to both his teacher and himself. He can often act out, or be impulsive, causing a distraction to others in the class.  While this is going on, he is not learning, but neither is anyone else! With a reduction in stimuli, many teachers report a reduction in these impulsive behaviors. So, what sorts of reductions are we talking about?

Many researches believe florescent lights (those lights that illuminiate nearly every single classroom on earth?!) can impact a child with ADD (as well as a child with Autism, epilepsy, or a child prone to migraine). The constant flicker that a non-ADD brain can ignore is seen by a child who has ADD. Natural light is best whenever possible. If a teacher is willing to open her blinds in the classroom and turn OFF the overhead lights, often there can be an improvement in ADD symptoms.

Your traditional concept of an elementary classroom is also ripe with distractors. All the bright colored posters, the word walls, the pictures, the items dangling from the ceiling? Every single item on the wall can pose a distraction for a child with ADD.  Not that anyone wants to learn in a room that mimics a jail cell, but if teachers are willing to forego a few of the decorations, or even have a corner of their room free from visual distractions, they may be rewarded by a reduction of behaviors, simply because there is less stimuli for a child to attend to!

Some in-class modifications that have been proven successful for children with ADD include the following:

• Reduce florescent lights and increase natural light
• Reduce the amount of visual stimulation on the walls
• Increase the amount of auditory stimulation by introducing 'white noise' in the classroom (background noise of rain, or something similar)
• Allow for a stimulus-free area of the classroom, with perhaps a study carrol.
• Allow a child to move around a bit in the classroom; pacing in the back, or sitting on a posture-ball. By keeping their bodies gently moving, their brains can focus better.
• If a posture-ball is not an option, see if a "wiggle seat" would be acceptable.
• Keep a point-sheet with rewards for positive behavior in the classroom, Rewards should be immediate at first, then tapered off to be more delayed.

Of course, there are kids who have ADD so severely that they do need additional intervention. The next step, as I mentioned in a previous post, is to seek out a 504-plan for your child.

To medicate, or not to medicate; that is the question!!

The knee-jerk reaction to a diagnosis of ADD is to think of medication. Many parents are understandably concerned about giving their child medicine for a behavioral condition, and I can see their point. The question to ask yourself is this one: is my child's behavior impacting their ability to learn? If behaviors can be managed by external modifications of their environment, and some behavior modification with point-sheets and rewards, then medication is probably not necessary.

However, if the interventions mentioned above have been tried, and have failed to improve your child's ability to attend to, and learn from, their school environment, then it is my personal and professional opinion that medication needs to be considered as a viable option. I have known students whose behavior is incredibly intrusive and inappropriate, and they were soon labeled "troublemakers" by their school. It is my firm opinion that these children were NOT trouble-makers, but were simply NOT IN CONTROL OF THEIR ACTIONS. Their ADD was so severe, they were truly not able to stop themselves. To not medicate a child who meets those descriptions, to expect him or her to change on their own, is unreasonable and unfair to that child. When you have tried everything else, and have not meet with success, it is time to have that talk with your child's doctor.

Educationally yours,

The Sped Guru

ACK! We're moving!! Will my child still be entitled to his IEP at the new school?

This is an excellent question! Under most circumstances, the answer is YES.  If your child has a current and valid IEP (meaning there is appropriate testing within the last 3 years to back up the need for SpEd services and the IEP has been updated within the last 12 months), then any school you attend must recognize that need.

There are, as you might expect, a few areas where things get sticky. If the IEP is out of date, or the services are not something the current school can offer, a new IEP will likely need to be written.  If accommodations are not something that can be offered in the current school, the IEP will likely need to be rewritten. If the goals do not match services offered, then the IEP will likely need to be rewritten.  What this means for you, the parent, is simply another meeting.  The burden during this process is generally on the special education teacher and staff of the new school.

You may run into problems, however, if your IEP has not been updated in the last 3 years with updated testing or, at the very least, a review of existing data.  Per federal guidelines, a student who qualifies for special education must be re-evaluated every three years.  Generally, this means the same battery of tests (or something very similar) which were used to determine eligibility in the first place.

If testing was done, say, when your child was in the 2nd grade, and then in the 5th grade, the school chose to use a 'review of data' to continue to find him/her eligible, well, now that original data is pushing 6 years old and may no longer be valid.  What can sometimes happen, (and this is really a GOOD thing) is that after enough time has passed, the student may have closed the achievement gap that originally qualified him/her for services.  This means they may no longer have a learning disability!  While this is excellent news, because we really don't want our children "disabled", it is scary to both the parent and the child to think of a new school without supports.  Often, the IEP can be written in such a way as to monitor progress for a semester and see how things go.  Should the student not make progress, the team can reconvene and see what may be done next.

So, what can you, as a parent, do to ensure a smooth transition to a new school for your child? Most importantly, please tell your new school that your child was receiving services.  In my years of teaching, I have seen many instances where students literally get left behind because the parent did not tell the school that the child needed services.

Remember, your child's psychological file with their school WILL NOT be automatically forwarded. The receiving school will need to request records, and that can often take some time.  Until a current, valid IEP is in the school's possession, the new school is under no obligation to provide services for your child.  In order to side-step this, I always recommend parents bring their OWN copy of a valid IEP to the new school.  Once your child is enrolled, and the school has something to work with in terms of an IEP, then the request for records is not as vital or time-sensitive.

It's my first IEP - what does my signature mean?

Many parents and guardians are concerned about what their signatures mean on the front page of an IEP. That first meeting, and in truth, any and all subsequent meetings, can be intimidating.  You will likely have a table full of people who seem to know more than you do about your child and his or her needs. You may be overwhelmed with test scores, accommodations, goals, and so forth. You know you signed a few pieces of paper, but in looking back on it, you wonder.. just what did I sign my name to, and what does it all mean??

One of the first things to remember is this - your signature on the IEP front page does NOT imply that you agree with the contents of the document.  It is simply an attendance form to show you were present at the table when the plan was discussed.

Other papers do not carry this caveat - placement pages, for example, specifically ask for you to agree or disagree with placement in Special Education.  On those, you are stating your opinion.. but the IEP signature page is simply to show you were there. Should you disagree with any part of the IEP, even after you have signed it, you are welcome to call the case manager, (generally that is your child's Special Education teacher, sometimes it is the school psychologist) and request an additional meeting. 

Just because an IEP team MUST meet at least once per year, there is no regulation stating that you cannot meet again before that year date is up!  When in doubt, call an IEP meeting!